The following are reader's opinions of the USS Enterprise (refit) made by Bandai.

Reviewer

Ray Schmuland

Date Reviewed

Jun 24, 2003

Overall Rating

Good kit, but with some problems.

Comments

Like everyone else who is an Enterprise fan I was very excited to here Bandai was going to release this kit. I had visions of the perfect Enterprise sitting in my display case. After completing the Finemolds X-wing I expected it to be of the same caliber as that kit. Virtually no seams and detailed beyond anything that has hit the shelves before, but alas it was not meant to be.

I will echo the others who have gone before me in saying that the finish on this kit is awesome. That is until you actually start buliding the thing and you realize that looks aren't everything.

Huge seamlines and poor fit on most subassemblies prevent this kit from being what it should be. There should be touch up paint included with this kit also. I managed to mix up a very close match for the off-white colour and pre-painted the inside of the seams in the pre-assembly phase. This way you can't see black seam lines, you see white seam lines instead. It looks much better and if you squint your eyes the seams disappear completley.(that's a joke by the way)

The lighting is topnotch, but of course with gaps like this light leaks are abundant. I tried to fix this with "Milliput", and it actually did a very good job. It doesn't attack the paint and its water soluble, so you can put it on, pack it into the joint, then wipe off the excess with a damp cloth. I then touched it up with a little paint, it's not perfect, but its alot better than the giant gapping black hole you just fixed.

It does look great when finished, from a distance that is, or when the lights are turned off and those nacelles are glowing bright. "Is the word given admiral? The word is given...warp speed".